I'd consider it a humanity. Anyway, to start a new Forum we'd have to have an overwhelming demand for it. Of course it's Greg's call, but I don't see enough history threads posted to warrant a new section in addition to General Discussion and Politics and World Affairs.

It's considered a social science by university departments in the US. That said, our particular social science forum consists almost entirely of psychometric discussions of race. If you start a thread about a historical topic, someone will find a way to relate it to the lower average IQ of some racial group with inferior genes. If nothing else, we should open up a separate psychometrics forum just to keep it out of the other social science topics.

Let's think of the future. At least science people seem the unique that today thinks that way. Being afraid by the past leads to the frustration (here, in Spain, we know a lot about it. Our incompetent politicians spend all the time reminding things from the past, in particular from the Civil War. They do not think of the future, and so we roughly get by.)

Sorry, maybe it has nothing to do with the main purpose of this thread, but lately I am angry with this stupid government and his politics of fame. :yuck:

Hey! A history forum, great idea, but I want a Military history sub forum, and a Napoleonic sub forum to that. While we are at it how about a cooking forum, and maybe a sewing forum....

Hummm.... Why don't we stick to Physics.. Historychannel.com has a wonderful history forum.. Wouldn't it make more sense to go somewhere like that where many people who are very knowledgeable in that field hang out? Lets stick to what we do best.

Hey! A history forum, great idea, but I want a Military history sub forum, and a Napoleonic sub forum to that. While we are at it how about a cooking forum, and maybe a sewing forum....

Hummm.... Why don't we stick to Physics.. Historychannel.com has a wonderful history forum.. Wouldn't it make more sense to go somewhere like that where many people who are very knowledgeable in that field hang out? Lets stick to what we do best.

I agree. We can't be everything to everyone. This site is called the "Physics Forums". I find it inconceivable that people would pick a site with that name to discuss history, or anything else for that matter. I am of the opinion that we already have too many sub-forums unrelated to physics as it is.

Staff: Mentor

ZapperZ said:

I agree. We can't be everything to everyone. This site is called the "Physics Forums". I find it inconceivable that people would pick a site with that name to discuss history, or anything else for that matter. I am of the opinion that we already have too many sub-forums unrelated to physics as it is.

IMO, we already have the perfect balance of breadth and depth. PF is not refereed, and we offer free membership to the public at large. That means we're going to have a lot of novices around who are interested in physics, but don't know how to frame a physical question scientifically. Given that state of affairs, we are bound to get questions such as:

"How sure are we of scientific theories?"
"What's a tensor?"
"Of what use is quantum theory to the real world?"
"What do you think of cutting the funding for the SSC?"
"Do any of you live near me?"
"How do you solve this problem?"
"I like science, and I like building things. Should I major in physics or engineering?"
"What's the chemical formula for table salt?"
"What constellations are visible this time of year?"
"What about this guy John Titor's claims?"
"How do you make a Forum like this?"
.
.
.
etc.

None of these belong in the Physics section, but we don't want to delete them or discourage this type of thing. So, we have other sections open so that the Physics section is not cluttered. The questions above fit neatly into (respectively) philosophy, math, engineering, politics, general discussion, homework help, academic and career guidance, other sciences, astronomy, scepticism, and technology.

Having said all that, I can't think of any questions that are connected to physics or this website that would warrant a History forum. Sure historical issues related to physics come up (say, the Bohr model), but we are happy to host those types of things in the regular Physics section.

I have to defend the Engineering forums, and do not allow anyone to doubt if the questions posted there doesn't fit with the name of this web. Physics wouldn't be alive without engineering, and anyone who goes for a walk into engineering sections would realise that the questions there are sometimes more physically advanced that those posted in Physics sections.

The more academic topics this forum covers, the more knowledge we gain. Plus, membership will also increase. I disagree with those that say we already have too many sections; I would like to see even more sections, but only so long as they are related to academia.